On March 12th, the internet celebrates the World Day Against Cyber Censorship, as promoted by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), an international organization committed to support journalists around the world.
The organization has already issued their latest report “The Enemies of the Internet 2010″, and not very surprinsingly, among their list we find: Saudi Arabia, Burma, China, North Korea, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Uzbekistan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam. However, RSF is hopeful:
The fight for free access to information is being played out to an ever greater extent on the Internet. The emerging general trend is that a growing number of countries are attemptimg to tighten their control of the Net, but at the same time, increasingly inventive netizens demonstrate mutual solidarity by mobilizing when necessary.
Mobilizing against these attempts of censoring our dear and precious internet is what will keep us busy for the next years. Whether it is in Asia, Oceania, Africa, Americas or in Europe, 2010 is slowly showing itself as a year when some governments will fight for not allowing their citizens have proper access to content. We can see examples of this in the ACTA discussions, laws for punishing filesharing and people’s actions on the web, as well as many other reports.
Now, over there in Global Voices, Jillian C. York asked bloggers what anti-cersorship means to us and what are governments and companies takes in this matter. Well, for me, anti-censorship means gathering efforts to promote as much transparency as possible, and allowing people to freely use Internet’s infinite possibilities.
I also think that governments should be encouraged not to regulate, but rather give the proper infra-structure and educate people on how to use the web. This way, citizens will trust the government and be able to freely express themselves on the web: this is of utmost importance! On this matter, I also think companies should become more aware of their influence in society. Google’s decision not to regulate search results in China after having some Human Rights activists’ accounts hacked (follow this link for more information) is a demonstration of how companies should position themselves.
All in all, there is much to discuss. I couldn’t address the whole cyber censorship issue by myself in this post. But one thing is certain: we have to pay attention if we want to have a free environment for expressing ourselves and share content in the future. I strongly believe people’s demands will succeed, but there is a long way for us to path yet, and we never know what to expect from repressive countries such as the ones in RSF’s list. Unfortunately, they can go as far as restraining people to preserve their status quo… but they should know we do anything for preserving our rights as well:
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